


of meetings and partings

by amuk



Category: Persona 3, Persona Series
Genre: Family, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Missing Scene, Moving On, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:28:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29913474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amuk/pseuds/amuk
Summary: It hurt to remember spring. It hurt to remember at all. Aigis would rather just forget everything than feel this pain. It was a sentiment Metis couldn’t understand.
Relationships: Aigis & Metis (Persona Series), Aigis/Arisato Minato
Kudos: 12





	of meetings and partings

**Author's Note:**

> For the Changing Seasons zine! I am possibly the only person who loves the p3 “The Answer” and Metis.

The dorm was quiet. It had been like this for a while now, as everyone drifted away after Makoto’s death, but it felt more muted than normal. In the dining room, the glowing hole in the ground was the only indication of where everyone was, leaving Aigis alone to repair herself.

“Sister.”

Well, not entirely alone. Aigis glanced up. Across the living room, perched gingerly on a couch, Metis watched her curiously. Her fingers toyed with the hem of her skirt, her knees bouncing ever so slightly as she waited, and she looked more like a child than Ken ever had. It was strange, hearing the word _sister_. Aigis had never thought of her relations with the other models like that. Putting down the screwdriver, she closed her metal gauntlets. “What is it?”

“Sister, what is spring like?” Metis gestured out the window at the world caught in a perpetual March. Outside, small crocuses and tulips bloomed in the few pots that Fuuka and Yukari kept and trees sported small leaf buds.

“Spring is the season after winter, when vegetation starts to appear.” Aigis rattled, pulling out the definitions she’d memorized. “It is before summer and—”

“Not that, sister.” Metis frowned, looking a little put out. It was strange how emotive she was, how she looked like any other human when she spoke.

Aigis had never been that emotive. Not even before Makoto…

Involuntarily, her hands curled into fists. His death still felt too raw, too real, and she thought she’d cut off that part of her.

“I want to know what spring feels like,” Metis clarified, gesturing once more to the flowers. “I haven’t had a chance to experience any of the seasons and we’re trapped in here. How does the sun feel? What does it sound like?”

More and more, she sounded like a child, so eager to learn. She was far more open when they were alone than when any of the others were here. Aigis pressed her fingers into her legs, carefully choosing her words, drawing from the wellspring of her memory. “Spring is warm and beautiful. There are lots of flowers, like cherry blossoms…” Her voice caught, and she remembered Makoto’s head on her lap, remembered his eyes closing shut for the last time.

He had smiled at her then. She did not understand why, what that smile meant. “Spring is sad. Spring is the season of goodbyes.”

“Goodbyes?” Metis cocked her head, not understanding. When Aigis didn’t reply, she wondered aloud, “Is it because the school year is over, and classes change?” She tapped her cheek. “Oh, but then isn’t it the season of hellos too?”

That shook her out of her thoughts. Perplexed, Aigis repeated, “Hellos?”

“Yeah.” Metis smiled broadly, getting up and walking around the table. She grabbed Aigis’s hands, pulling her up. “Even more than just getting a new class, this is when I met you, right? So ‘hello’!”

Aigis stared. She remembered hearing once, about how partings made way to new beginnings, but it was one thing to hear it, another thing to feel it. She glanced at the hands holding hers, at the sunny smile on Metis’s face. At the corner where Makoto’s room would be, untouched.

Hellos and goodbyes. Partings and greetings. She wasn’t sure she was ready for either but she nodded her head anyways. “Hello.” She paused. “Sister.”

Metis’s smile grew even bigger and for that, maybe, she could try.


End file.
